Pres. Matern, Elders Stucki & Bushnell; lop-eared rabbit in Buch; Elder Stucki &Elder Irick passing the lifesaver at zone conference.

APRIL 15, 2010 THURSDAY

We got up this morning at 5:30 in order to get ready and have everything put together by 7:00 when we anticipated Elders Bentley & Dahneke would be here to pick us up to go to Zone Conference in Luzern. They were supposed to call us last night to tell us exactly when they would be here, but the call didn’t come until this morning. They were already on their way here from Schweningen and said they would arrive at 7:30. We thought we had a little more time so we slowed down our pace geared to 7:30. We were surprised when our doorbell rang at 7:15 and wouldn’t you know it, we were fifteen minutes behind. We finished getting things together, had a prayer and left for the two hour ride to Luzern. We took our computer along to play the Church DVD so the elders could hear what was on it to prepare for our school visit tomorrow. After hearing the various clips we put the laptop away and discussed what we thought we wanted to do After that we enjoyed the rest of the ride. Just as we were getting close to Luzern we got a call from Elder Dias who said they had just passed us in their van and, if we wanted, we could follow them to the Church. Even though we had the Tom Tom we thought it the better part of valor to follow them, just to be sure. We arrived with fifteen minutes to spare which we used to find our seats and say hello to the missionaries we knew. We also met a new senior couple, the Longhursts from North Ogden, serving in Freiburg, Germany. It’s amazing how, when we meet new missionary couples, it seems automatically as if we’ve known them for many years. We imagine it’s because being united in a common purpose as missionaries brings us close.

We enjoyed the day filled with inspired instruction from Pres. Matern, workshops presented by various missionary companionships, language training, songs, prayers, games and food. The lunch, prepared by local members, consisted of a half dozen varieties of soups, bread and vegetable trays. Dessert was Schwarzwald Cake, chocolate cake, a white cake with fruit in it and vanilla ice cream. It was all delicious, however, some soups were better than others.

At the beginning of the afternoon session we were in charge of the games. The first one was passing a lifesaver from one end of the line via straws held in their mouths while doing the same thing from the other end of the same line with a flat gumdrop with a hole in the middle of it. The trick came when both met in the middle and they had to figure out how to get them passed each other. They couldn’t use their hands. There were two lines competing against each other and the first line to accomplish the task was the winner. The second game was called “helium stick.” Two double lines were formed with the players in each double line facing each other. Each held their hands out with their pointer finger outstretched. A stick was placed on their fingers so the two pointer fingers of each player were under and supporting the stick. The object of the game was to lower the stick to the ground. The rules were that every finger had to remain in contact with the stick at all times. If someone lost contact, they had to start over. No one could grab onto the stick and hold it. Normally what happens is the stick goes up instead of down. Everyone trying to stay in contact with the stick pushes it up instead of down which is very frustrating for the players. This game teaches that everyone has to work together and in unison to accomplish the task.

Pres. Matern gave us all a Swiss mission pin that he normally only gives to those being released and going home. But, since the mission is being reorganized on July 1st and will cease to exist as the Swiss Mission, he is giving each of us one now. It is a nice memento. After the conference we helped clean up and then we were ready to go. We had to wait a little while for Elder Bentley while he along with the other leaders held their after conference evaluation meeting with Pres. Matern. Soon we were on the road home. Elder Bentley & Elder Dahneke knew we were low on gas when we left Luzern, but felt we had enough to get to Schaffhausen. About the time we got to Zurich they decided they better get some gas and not chance running out. We got off the freeway and drove around until we found a Shell station where their gas card was valid. It was nice because we were in our old haunts when we were serving in Schwamendingen and recognized many places and streets we used to travel regularly. Soon we were back on the road and arrived in Schaffhausen without any trouble.

Elders Bentley & Dahneke came in to make a pit stop and while they were here, we fixed them a quick dinner. When they were finished, we planned a little more in detail what and how we were going to handle the presentation at the school tomorrow.

We noticed our telephone light blinking and saw that Sylvain had called. We returned the call and he explained that he was in such pain that he just wanted to talk to someone. Since we weren’t home, he called Pres. Flammia and talked with him for awhile. He said he was okay except for the pain and he wasn’t sure if he would be able to make his appointment tomorrow. He said he would call us in the morning and let us know. We keep him in our prayers. Our day will start early again tomorrow so it’s to bed for us and it’s only 10:40.